Management of significant electrical power may be a difficult task in a vacuum or high-voltage environment due to a phenomenon known as corona discharge. Corona discharge is the ionization of gaseous media caused by the presence of a strong electric field. This ionized gas, in turn, can erode the insulation system around the conductor and ultimately cause a fault.
Further, current electrical insulation methods utilize materials such as tapes, paints, resins, epoxies, and rubbers such as silicon rubber that may be easily applied to a conductive element in an atmospheric fabrication environment. However, these materials are often not suitable for application to complexly shaped conductive elements operating in vacuum or high-voltage environments.